Tucker gives input on Cloverdale Leader in Me initiative

Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Dawn Tucker

CLOVERDALE — With the program still in its nascent stages, administrators and students at Cloverdale Schools are continuing to work through how to implement learning based on a leadership model.

Cloverdale Middle School Principal Dawn Tucker gave a brief overview of how the Leader in Me (LIM) initiative is shaping at the elementary and middle school during the Cloverdale School Board’s regular meeting Monday evening.

Leader in Me is a model aimed at encouraging students to build leadership and life skills, as well as a school culture predicated on trust. It is based on See-Do-Get, in which change is to lead to results.

Tucker first outlined how the model has been introduced going back to August, in which faculty were familiarized with LIM and the concept of “action teams.” With there not being a clear understanding yet of the teams’ purpose, Tucker stressed that more training with a LIM coach was needed.

Nonetheless, weekly lessons based in turn on monthly “habits” were created and delivered beginning in September. Tucker provided that there is a “big difference” between a fifth-grader and an eighth-grader, and the lessons are tailored as such.

Tucker said a hurdle is knowing that staff changes are to be expected. While she said it is too early to tell if LIM is making an impact, it has at least been considered positively.

The initiative at the elementary and middle schools is to be fleshed out with the 2022-23 school year. As such, goals include establishing the action teams and a student “lighthouse” team, as well as students, staff and parents taking a measurable results assessment (MRA).

Students from Cloverdale High School are expected to present to the board next month about how LIM is being implemented there.

In other business:

• The board’s leadership was retained with Vivian Whitaker, Katrina Lewis and Donna Fidler being nominated and approved as board president, vice president and secretary, respectively.

• The board reappointed Mendy Shrout as the corporation’s treasurer, while Sara Zaring was appointed as its deputy treasurer. Lynn Lotz previously held the former position, buts works as an executive secretary.

• The board reappointed Michelle Cooper of Lewis & Kappes as the corporation’s attorney.

• The board approved for its meetings to remain the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

• The board reaffirmed for compensation of its members to be at $2,000 a year.

• The board approved a resolution granting permission to transfer $300,000 from the Education Fund to the Operations Fund. Superintendent Greg Linton provided that Education had “excess” funds that could be moved.

• The board also approved an updated re-entry plan. The changes reflect new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with quarantining and masking.

The guidance dictates that students who test positive for COVID should quarantine for at least five days, and this is the same for students who have not been vaccinated and have come into close contact. Depending on the circumstance, students are to mask between five-10 days.

The board also recognized two of Cloverdale’s three Students of the Month in Wyatt Jacobson (Cloverdale Elementary School) and Jayden Armstrong-Diggs (Cloverdale Middle School). Cloverdale High School’s Veronica Carter could not attend due to a girls’ basketball game, but will be recognized next month.

The board also approved the following personnel report:

• Employment: Dawn Hennigar - CES/CMS cafeteria (part time); Gerry Hoffa - CHS varsity head baseball coach; and Lori Halloran - CMS wrestling coach;

• Volunteer: Max Secrest: CHS volunteer wresting coach.

The board also conducted its annual finance meeting. Linton first noted that interest rates have fluctuated in a “fairly tough market” since 2018, with rates now being on a down cycle.

However, revenue as well as expenditures have gone up from 2021 partially due to having an online option. As such, he said the Education Fund has grown while Operations was stable.

“All in all, 2021 was a good year for Cloverdale,” Linton concluded about the finances.

Mike Rightmyer was the only board member absent. Meanwhile, Linton and Lotz joined the rest of the board for the meeting.

The next regular meeting of the Cloverdale School Board is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Arthur L. Johnson Administration Office near Cloverdale High School.

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